20 ARDENMOHR. 



are the speciality of some men, who make their 

 scholarly exactness a saving of trouble to others, 

 and profitable to themselves ; but to most men 

 it is worse than lost time, and the game, even if 

 gained, by no means worth the candle. David Hume 

 finished college at sixteen." 



""What! Major," exclaimed Ward, "you a rebel 

 against Professor Grundy? Abbott I am not sur- 

 prised at ; he was always an eccentric in his notions." 



"And still," I said, "here is Major Duncan, 

 elephant-hunter and interpreter, who is an eccentric 

 in practice also, and who never was at college, 

 yet is a decent mathematician and a fair classic ; 

 in fact, he was campaigning in India while great 

 whiskered fellows, much his seniors, were only 

 schooling at Oxford and Cambridge." 



" I shall post you both when I return." 



"Do so, mon ami, and tell the dons that I know 

 where you got your varied accomplishments ; and 

 certainly it was not at college, as you had your 

 classics at a good country school, your French 

 (such as it is) chiefly at home, in Jersey, and your 

 usual correct views by reading carefully the works 

 of England's worthies, and by keeping such virtuous 

 company as Major Duncan and myself." 



